History Oddities 4

 

Magellan.  Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.  He started out with 5 ships, and only one ship, the Victoria,  made it back home after sailing around the world for 3 years.  It started with 270 crew members, but only 18 of the original crew survived.  He was Portuguese, but sailed for Spain and could not speak Spanish.  The grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who funded Columbus, now funded Magellan.  In April 1521, Magellan was killed in the Philippines when Mactan natives refused to be converted to Christianity and a battle broke out.  The final trip back to Spain was led by Juan Sebastian Elcano.  The trip around the world covered 50,610 miles.  [source: “Magellan was first to sail around the world, right?  Think again,” Blakemore, National Geographic, Sep 19, 2019]

 

Magic Mirrors.  In the sixteenth century missionaries brought Christianity to Japan! In the 17^th Century the shogunate made Christianity illegal and began persecuting Christians. Those who could not renounce their faith had to keep it a secret. To identify themselves however, especially when they gathered in secret, they used what they called Magic mirrors. I normal mirror with a perfectly smooth surface would cast a white light on a wall, but poorly made mirrors would cast dark spots with its reflections. Magic mirrors were purposely polished with slight imperfections that when anyone used them the seemed quite normal but when reflected upon a wall or white surface it would display an image of a crucifix or Jesus.  [source: “Japanese Magic Mirror,” Mike Sullivan, najimu-japan.com, July 17, 2014]

 

Marathon.  The Battle of Marathon took place in 490 BC during the first Persian invasion of Greece.  In 490 BC, the Persian king, Darius, ordered an expedition to cross the Aegean Sea and punish Greece for their role in the earlier Ionian Revolt and burning Sardis, one of the important cities of the Persian Empire.  The Persian Expedition was the largest amphibious invasion the world had ever seen.  It involved 600 ships and 30,000 men.  The Greek army at the Marathon plain of northeastern Attica consisted mainly of Athenians.  There were no Spartan soldiers present.  The Spartans promised to send military aid to the Athenians, but their laws stated that they had to wait until after a full moon had passed.  The Athenians lost 192 men of their 9,000 soldiers at Marathon.  The Persians lost 6,400 men.  The day after the battle, the Spartan army showed up at Marathon, having marched 140 miles in only 3 days.  There was nothing for them to do except help bury the dead.  The tale of the messenger Pheidippides running 25 miles to Athens to deliver the news of the Persian defeat inspired the creation of the modern marathon (26 miles, 385 yards.)  This tale inspired the first Boston Marathon on April 19, 1897.  The first Olympic marathon for women wasn’t held until 1984.   [source: “Battle of Marathon,” history.com, Aug 15, 2019]

 

Marie Antoinette.  Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution.  She was born an Austrian princess.  She married the future Louis XVI at age 14.  She never said “Let them eat cake” when the starving peasants lacked any bread to eat.  The phrase appears in book 6 of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, written in 1766.  Sin 1785, a scandal known as “The Affair of the Necklace,” shocked the French people.  It began with the procurement of a diamond necklace worth about $10 million by the Comtesse de La Motte.  The necklace was supposedly for the Queen, but in reality, it was for the Comtesse and her associates.  Though the fraud was eventually exposed and the Queen proved innocent, the damage was done.  This became one of the factors leading to the dissolution of the monarchy and to the French Revolution.  She became a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy.  After an escape attempt, she was guillotined and her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in Paris.  Her body was exhumed in 1815 and buried at the Basilica of St Denis.  [source:  “Marie Antoinette,” biography.com, Sep 10, 2019]

 

Mayan calendar.  The Mayan calendar is a system of three interlocking calendars used by the Mayan civilization in Central America.  The Tzolkin is the sacred calendar of 260 days.  The Haab is the solar calendar of 365 days.  The Long Count calendar is for much longer time periods.  In 2012, a “Great Cycle” of its Long Count component of the Mayan calendar came to an end.  The media hype and hysteria made it look like the world would end on December 21, 2012.  The Mayan calendar dates back to 500 BC and it is still in use on some Mayan communities today.  The 52-year Calendar Round element of the Mayan calendar is still in use by many groups in the Guatemalan highlands.  The starting point of the Long Count calendar is equivalent to August 11, 3114 BC.   This was the creation date for the Maya.  The Maya did not use any system of leap days, so their Haab of 365 days in a year had an error rate of 1 day every 4 years when compared to the real solar year.  [source: Pappas, “The Real Deal: How the Mayan Calendar Works,” Live Science, Dec 19, 2012]

 

McCarthyism.  The growing tensions of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR soon fed back into US politics, as fears arose that the Soviets would encourage communist subversion or even outright revolution in America. This was known as the Red Scare.  In February 1950, Republican senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) of Wisconsin gave a speech in which he claimed to have the names of 205 communists working in the US State Department. A political furor erupted in which, to defend himself, McCarthy issued further accusations of communist infiltration.   The House Committee on Un-American Activities investigated alleged communist activity, while McCarthy himself, as Chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953–55, sought to root out communists in all walks of life, particularly in the film industry and among labor activists. Despite a lack of proof of any subversion, more than 2,000 government employees lost their jobs as a result o McCarthy’s investigations.  When he turned to attacks on the army, he overplayed his hand.  McCarthy was formally denounced in 1954 during the Army-McCarthy hearings, when army lawyer Joseph Welch famously asked McCarthy, “Have you no decency?”  Public sympathy for him waned, and in December 1954 his activities were condemned by a vote in the Senate.  He was censured by the Senate by a vote of 67-22.  Afterwards, McCarthy was frequently hospitalized for alcohol abuse and became addicted to morphine.  He died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 48.  [source: “Joseph McCarthy,” history.com, May 16, 2019]

 

McLean.  Wilmer McLean (1814-1882) was an American wholesale grocer. The Civil War started on July 21, 1861 in Wilmer McLean’s front yard.  His farm meandered a small stream called Bull Run.  Oddly, it ended in his house.  In 1861, his house near Manassas junction, Virginia was involved the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run).  McLean later moved from northern Virginia to Central Virginia.  On April 9, 1865, a messenger from Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s army went to Appomattox Court to find a place to meet.  The messenger knocked on McLean’s door and requested the use of his home.  Lee surrendered to Grant in McLean’s house.  [source: Klein, “How the Civil War Stalked Wilmer McLean,” history.com, Aug 22, 2018]

 

Mexican-American War.  The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 marked the first U.S. armed conflict fought on foreign soil.  On May 13, 1846, Congress declared war on Mexico.  No official declaration of war ever came from Mexico.  A border skirmish along the Rio Grande that started off the fighting was followed by a series of U.S. victories.  In September 1847, Major General Winfield Scott captured Mexico City.  In Feb 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war.  When it was over, Mexico lost one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.  The U.S. Government gave Mexico $15 million ($470 million today) for all the land it took, which came to 525,000 square miles.  The Mexican-American War was the first U.S. war that was covered by mass media and U.S. correspondents.   [source: “Mexican-American War,” history.com, Aug 10, 2022]

 

Michelangelo.  Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, and architect during the Renaissance.  He got his start after a failed attempt at art fraud in Milan.  He made a sleeping cupid figure and treated it with acidic earth to make it seem ancient.  He sold it to an art dealer, who then sold it to a Cardinal.  The scam was uncovered and the dealer got his money back.  But the dealer was impressed by Michelangelo’s work that he invited him to Rome.  He eventually won a commission to carve the Pieta, his first work as a legitimate artist.  The Pieta was the only work Michelangelo ever signed.  He painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 4 years (1508-1512), but against his will.  He suggested that Raphael paint the ceiling.  Michelangelo preferred sculpting and was reluctant to agree to the commission from Pope Julius II.  Michelangelo used 13 assistants to paint the ceiling.  But Michelangelo was paid in full and became wealthy.  When he died, he left an estate worth 50,000 florins – about $50 million in today’s currency.  [source: “Michelangelo: The Man,” Life in Italy, Oct 8, 2019]

 

Mount Rushmore.  Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved in the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  It was designed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum (a Ku Klux Klan member), who oversaw the making of the sculpture of four presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln) from 1927 to 1941.  It was built on sacred Native American land.  The area was illegally taken from the Sioux Nation in the 1870s.  Before it became known as Mount Rushmore, the Lakota Indians called to Tunkasila Sakpe Paha, or Six Grandfathers Mountains.  In 1884, New York attorney Charles Rushmore visited the site to strike a deal on a tin mine and the mountain was renamed after him.  Mount Rushmore attracts over 2 million visitors annually.   [source: McKeever, “The heartbreaking, controversial history of Mount Rushmore, National Geographic, Oct 28, 2020]

 

Mount St. Helens.  On May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m., Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted, creating the largest landslide recorded.  It was the most destructive eruption in U.S. history.  David A. Johnston (1949-1980) was an American volcanologist and a principal scientist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS).  He was killed by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State.  He was 6 miles away from the eruption and was the first to report the eruption.  He was swept away by a lateral blast of hot ash.  His body was never found.  Everything within 8 miles of the blast was wiped out instantly.  A shockwave rolled over the area for another 19 miles, leveling all the trees.  The area devastated by the direct blast force covered an area of 230 square miles.  Mudslides reached speeds of 90 mph.  An eruption column of smoke and ash rose 80,000 feet into the atmosphere.  Ash was deposited in 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces.  The energy released was equal to 26 megatons of TNT.  The mountain lost 1,300 feet from its height.   57 people were killed from the eruption.  It caused over $1.1 billion in damage (equivalent to $3.5 billion in 2020).  It destroyed over 200 homes, over 185 miles of roads, and 15 miles of railways.  [source: Navarro, “40 years ago, last moments before Mount St. Helens eruption caught on camera,” AccuWeather, May 20, 2020]

 

Napoleonic Wars.  The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting Napoleon Bonaparte and the French empire against as many as 24 European powers.  It all started on May 18, 1803, when Britain declared war on France, thus ending the short-lived Treaty of Amiens (signed in 1802) and sparking what is known as the War of the Third Coalition – the first Napoleonic War.  Britain had been irritated that Napoleon wanted control over all of Switzerland.  Napoleon had already been planning to invade Britain, funded by the 68 million francs the United States had just paid France for the Louisiana Purchase.  The Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 was Napoleon’s greatest victory during the Napoleonic Wars.  The battle was fought near Austerlitz in Moravia (now the Czech Republic).  The battle saw 68,000 French troops defeat 90,000 Russian and Austrians, led by Russian Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.  At the Battle of Austerlitz, the Russian-Austrian army lost 36,000 soldiers while France lost 9,000 soldiers.  As a result of France’s victory at Austerlitz, the Holy Roman Empire had dissolved.  When France invaded Portugal, that country moved its capital from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (a Portuguese colony at the time).  Rio de Janeiro was Portugal’s official capital city for 13 years.  The British bribed Russia to fight the French.  The British agreed to pay Russia 1.5 million pounds for every 100,000 French troops who were killed.  About 5 million people lost their lives during the Napoleonic Wars.  During this time, 3 million French fought, 1 million Austrians fought, 900,000 Russians fought, 750,000 British fought and 320,000 Prussians fought.   [source: Atkins, “10 Facts About the Napoleonic Wars,: History Hit, June 18, 2018]

 

Nazca Lines.  The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.  They are located in an arid coastal area that cover 170 square miles.  They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by a pre-Inca civilization.  They were unknown until the 1930s when aircraft began flying over the area. Over 1,000 designs have ben located.  Most are straight lines, stretching up to 30 miles.  Designs have included a spder, a hummingbird, a monky, a whale, a tw-headed snake, a dog, and a large humanoid figure.  168 new figures have been found with the use of drones.  Researchers still don’t understand their purpose.  [source: Jarus, “Nazca Lines: Mysterious geoglyphs in Peru,” Live Science, Dec 23, 2022]

 

Nero.  Nero (37 AD – 68 AD) was the worst emperor in Roman history.  He was Roman emperor from 54 AD (at the age of 16) to 68 AD.  He was the last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.  He was the youngest sole emperor until Elagabalu, who became emperor at the age of 14 in 218 AD.  Nero murdered his first wife, Octavia, his second wife, Poppaea Sabina, his step-brother, two rivals, and his mother, Agrippina.  He did not fiddle while Rome burned in a great fire, which ravaged Rome for 10 days and destroyed 75% of the city.  The fiddle was not invented until 1,400 years after Nero’s death.  At the time of the fire, which started in the Circus Maximus, he was in the city of Antium, 30 miles south of Rome.  After killing his wives, he married a man in 64 AD.  He committed suicide (he ordered his private secretary to stab him) after the Senate voted that Nero was an enemy of the state.  He was the first Roman Emperor to commit suicide.  [source: “Nero – Poet, Emperor,” biography.com, July 11, 2019]

 

New Deal.  The New Deal was a series of programs, public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1939.  The New Deal created around 100 new government offices and 40 new agencies.  The New Deal programs include the National Youth Administration (NYA), the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA, Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Civil Works Administration (CWA), Social Security Act (SSA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), Rural Electrification Administration (REA), Resettlement Administration (RA), and the Farm Security Administration (FSA).  [source: “New Deal,” history.com, Nov 27, 2019]

 

Newton.    Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was one of the most influential scientists during the Scientific Revolution of the 17^th century.  His book, Principia Mathematica, written in 1686, formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation.  He was the second scientist to be knighted, after Sir Francis Bacon.  Newton had a low esteem of himself and had no close relationships.  He distrusted his friends and was suspicious of others.  In more than 30 years as a Fellow of Trinity College, he tutored only 3 students, none of whom proceeded as far as a bachelor’s degree.  He was reluctant to publish his work on mathematics and calculus because he feared controversy and criticism.  He spent half his life muddling with alchemy and the occult.  He suffered from mercury poisoning from his alchemical experiments. In 1679 he had a nervous breakdown.  He was deemed mentally ill again in 1692.  His mental illness lasted 18 months.  During that period, he broke all contact with his friends and colleagues, crawled into corners, accused everyone of plotting against him, and reported conversations that never took place.  Newton later settled in London and was given the job of master of the Mint.  He moved the British currency, the pound sterling, from the silver to the gold standard.  He died in his sleep in London on March 31, 1727.  His body was buried in Westminster Abbey.  [source: “Isaac Newton Biography,” Live Science, March 24, 2016]

 

O’Hare.  Lieutenant Commander Edward O’Hare (1914-1943) was an American naval aviator who became the Navy’s first flying ace during World War II.  He shot down 5 Japanese bombers and became the first naval recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II.  Edward “Butch” O’Hare’s father, Edward “Easy Eddie” Joseph O’Hare (1893-1939) was Al Capone’s lawyer.  O’Hare senior later turned on Capone and later helped federal prosecutors convict Capone of tax evasion, in return for allowing his son to go to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.  He was later assassinated, supposedly by Capone’s hit men, and they were never caught.  Butch served as an aviator on the USS Enterprise, the USS Saratoga, and the USS Lexington.  Butch was called to duty on the USS Saratoga the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  In 1942, he shot down 5 enemy aircraft in less than 4 minutes and saved the USS Lexington from serious damage and even loss.  That earned him a Medal of Honor and was personally congratulated by President Roosevelt.  In November 1943, Butch led the first-ever Navy nighttime fighter aircraft from an aircraft carrier.  He was perhaps shot down and was reported missing in action when he did not return.  He was declared dead a year later.  In September 1949, the Chicago Orchard Depot Airport was renamed O’Hare International Airport to honor O’Hare’s bravery.  [source: Lamourex, “The O’Hares,” allthatsinteresting.com, Jan 17, 2020]

 

Okinawa.  The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest.  On April 1, 1945, (Easter Sunday) 180,000 American troops landed on Okinawa for a final push towards Japan.  The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa.  Kamikaze fighters, rainy weather, and fierce fighting led to a large death toll on both sides.  The Americans knew securing Okinawa’s airbases was critical to launching a successful Japanese invasion,  Japan had 130,000 men to defend Okinawa.  During the Battle of Okinawa. Kamikaze suicide pilots attack the Fifth Fleet off of Okinawa.  The Japanese sunk 36 ships, damaged 368 ships, killed 4,900 Americans, wounded 4,800 men, and destroyed 763 aircraft.  About 7,000 Japanese surrendered, but many died by suicide.   The Americans suffered 49,000 casualties, including 12,520 killed.  About 110,000 Japanese soldiers died.  150,000 Okinawa citizens were also killed.  [source: “Battle of Okinawa,” history.com, Nov 9, 2022]

 

Odoacer.  Odoacer (433 AD – 493 AD), also known as Flavius Odoacer, was the first king if Italy.  He was a Roman soldier and statesman of barbarian background.  His father was an advisor to Attila the Hun.  Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus (460 AD to 500? AD).  Odoacer compelled the young emperor to abdicate.  Odoacer spared his life, gave him a pension of 6,000 solidii, and sent him to Campania to live with his relatives.  This marked the end of the Roman Empire in the West, the end of Ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe.  Odoacer then induced the Vandal king Gaiseric (389 AD – 477 AD) to cede Sicily to him, which Gaiseric had occupied for 8 years.  Julius Nepos (430-480) had been the previous Western emperor and Zeno was emperor of the East, with his capital in Constantinople.  In 489, the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great invaded Italy and captured almost the entire peninsula.  Theodoric invited Odoacer to a banquet to forge an alliance and sign a treaty, but instead, Theodoric stabbed Odoacer to death with his sword during a meal.  Theodoric then ordered all of Odoacer’s army to be killed.  He had Odoacer’s wife stoned to death.  Odoacer’s brother was killed by archers while seeking refuge in a church.  Theodoric exiled Odoacer’s son to Gaul, but when he attempted to return to Italy, Theodoric had him killed.  [source: “8 Famous Barbarian Leaders,” history.com, May 31, 2016]

 

Ottoman Empire.  The Islamic-run Ottoman Empire began in 1299 and lasted until 1923.  It was founded by Osman I (1250?-1323), a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia.  In 1387, the Ottomans captured the important port city of Thessaloniki from the Venetians and sacked it.  The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 was the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages.  It failed to stop the advance of the Ottoman Turks.  In 1402, the Mongols, headed by Tamerlane (1402-1414) attacked the Ottoman Empire from the east and took the Ottoman sultan prisoner.  In 1453, Mehmed II (1432-1481)  led the Ottoman Empire in capturing Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantium Empire.  He turned the city into the capital of the Ottoman Empire and renamed it Istanbul.  Mehmed II put an end to the 1,000 reign of the Byzantine Empire.  For the next several hundred years the Ottoman Empire would be one of the largest and most powerful empires in the world.  By the 19^th century, the population of the Ottoman Empire was more than 35 million.  [source: “Ottoman Empire,” history.com, Nov 3, 2017]

 

Pearl Harbor.  Throughout 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt looked on with alarm as the Japanese steadily encroached on new territory, occupying northern Indochina in July 1940. Meanwhile, the powerful Japanese naval lobby pressed for a pre-emptive strike against the USA to cripple its military capacity before it could react to Japan’s advances. Finally, on 1 December 1941, Japanese emperor Hirohito approved the order for an attack on the main US Pacific naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  Although intercepted intelligence had given indications that an attack of some sort might occur, the Americans were totally unprepared when the large Japanese task force, including six aircraft carriers, 24 supporting ships, and a group of submarines, began its attack on December 7, 1941 at 8 a.m. The Japanese commander, Admiral Nagumo, launched two waves of bombers and fighters against the US base, an hour apart. Some 18 US naval vessels were sunk, including 8 battleships, and nearly 400 aircraft were destroyed (with the loss of just 29 Japanese planes). A 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the decks of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine.  The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside.  The only consolation for America was that its two aircraft carriers were – by chance – absent from Pearl Harbor that day. 2,400 Americans died in the attack.  The following day in Congress, President Roosevelt described the Japanese attack as a “date which will live in infamy” and declared war on Japan. Germany and Italy declared war on Japan.  Germany and Italy declared war on the USA 3 days later.  [source: “Attack on Pearl Harbor,” Atomic Heritage Foundation, June 18, 2014]

 

Persepolis.  Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire.  The earliest remains of Persepolis dates back to 515 BC.  The city was located in a remote region in the mountains and served as a spring/summer royal residence.   The city’s remote location kept it a secret from the outside world.  It was the safest city in the Persian Empire used to storing art, artifacts, archives, and keeping the royal treasury.  The Greeks had no idea the city existed until Alexander the Great found it in 330 BC, who burned it down and took all the vast treasures.  It wasn’t until 1618 that the ruins were positively identified as Persepolis.  The first scientific excavations at Persepolis did not occur until 1931.    Since then, more than 30,000 inscriptions have been found from the exploration of Persepolis.  [source: Mark, “Persepolis,” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Nov 19, 2019]

 

Pershing.  John J. Pershing (1860-1948) was a General of the Armies and the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I.  Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies.  The AEF would operate as a single unit under his command.  Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own life to General of the Armies rank, the highest possible rank in the U.S. Army.  In 1976, Congress retroactively promoted George Washington to the same rank, but higher seniority.  This assured the General Washington would always be the highest ranking military officer in the United States.  At the start of World War I, Major General Pershing (two stars) was promoted to full general (four stars).  He bypassed lieutenant general (three stars) and was the first full general since Philip Sheridan in 1888.  He started with 27,000 inexperienced men in the Army and ended up with over two million trained army soldiers.  In 1946, at age 85, he married his portrait artist, age 50.  They had met in France when she was 23.  In 1917, for the first time in American history, Pershing allowed American soldiers to be under the command of a foreign power.  Pershing is the highest ranked officer buried at Arlington National Cemetery.   In 1897 he was nicknamed “Black Jack” by cadets at West Point who resented his iron discipline when he was their tactical officer.  [source: “John J. Pershing,” history.com, June 17, 2019]

 

Persian Empire.  The largest empire on Earth was the Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire.  It was the first centralized nation-state.  In 480 BC, at its peak, it accounted for over 44% of the world’s population, the highest figure for any empire in history.  The Persian Empire lasted from 559 BC to 331 BC.  At its height, it encompassed the areas of modern-day Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The Persian Empire was the largest in history for two centuries until it was conquered by Alexander the Great.   The first Persian Empire was shaped by Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions.  [source: Bienewald, “Persian Empire,” history.com, Jan 25, 2018]

 

Petrarch.  Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) was an Italian scholar and poet.  He is considered the first “Renaissance Man.”  He is considered one of the greatest love poets of world literature.  He copied Old Greek and Roman manuscripts into the vernacular.  Traveling as a diplomatic envoy for the Church, he was also able to search for forgotten classical texts.  His rediscovery of Marcus Cicero’s (106 BC – 43 BC) first 16 books of letters in Verona is credited with initiating the Italian Renaissance and the founding of Renaissance humanism.   He believed in progress through learning.  His writing was used to shape the modern Italian language.  Petrarch gave his large collection of ancient texts to Venice in exchange for a house and refuges from the plague.  [source: “Petrarch,” biography.com, April 16, 2019]

 

Philippines campaign.  The Philippines campaign was the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese, starting on December 8, 1941.  American and Filipino forces, commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, were isolated and overrun after 5 months of continuous combat.  It was the largest defeat in U.S. history, with over 100,000 allied troops captured.  The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor 10 hours before they attacked the Philippines.  The Philippines had ample warning about what happened at Pearl Harbor and scout planes reported that the incoming Japan planes were just weather planes.  In 45 minutes, the Japanese planes destroyed half the Far East Air Force aircraft at Clark Airfield.  A week later, the Japanese landed in Batan Island with 2,500 men.  By April 1942, the U.S. forces in Corregidor surrendered.  The Japanese now had 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners.  The prisoners were forced to walk 70 miles to the Balanga prison camps.  This was known as the infamous Bataan Death March where 10,000 Americans and Filipinos died along the way.  During the Philippines campaign, there were 23,000 American casualties and 100,000 Filipino casualties.  The 3-month defense of the Philippines was the longest resistance to the Japanese Imperial Army in the initial stages of World War II. [source: “The Philippines,” Center of Military History (history.army.mil), June 20, 2006 and “Bataan Death March,” history.com, June 7, 2019]

 

Pilgrims.  The Pilgrims were the 100 English settlers who established the Plymouth Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.  The first use of the world pilgrims for the Mayflower passengers appeared in William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, a journal written between 1630 and 1651.   William Bradford (1590-1657) became governor of the Plymouth settlement and is my 9^th great-grandfather (Wall-Metcalf-Kellogg-Steele-Bradford).  As he finished recounting his group’s July 1620 departure from Leiden, Holland, he used the imagery of Hebrews 11:13-16 about “strangers and pilgrims” who had the opportunity to return to their old country, but, instead, longed for a better, heavenly country.  These pilgrims formed the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England.  We don’t know if they landed at Plymouth Rock.  William Bradford never mentioned Plymouth Rock in his history journal.  [source: McKenzie: “Five myths about the Pilgrims,” Washington Post, Nov 22, 2013]

 

Pizarro.  Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) established the first Spanish settlement in Peru.  He was put in charge of an expedition after he arrested Balboa, who was then executed.  He became mayor of the town of Panama and soon became wealthy.  Pizarro took the Inca Emperor Atahualpa prisoner and held him ransom until a room (22 feet by 17 feet) was filled full of gold and silver.  The Inca delivered the gold and silver, but Pizarro killed Atahualpa anyway.  Pizarro, with a small force of less than 200 men, killed over 2,000 Inca and to over 5,000 more as prisoners.  The Inca has a 50,000-man army that Pizarro defeated.  Pizarro then established the city of Lima as the new capital of Peru.  He then ruled as governor for the next 10 years.  In 1892, a body believed to be Pizarro was exhumed and put on display in a glass coffin.  In 1977, another body was found in a lead case in a cathedral’s foundation that bore the inscription, “Here lies the head of Don Francisco Pizarro.”  A team of forensic scientists determined that the body in the glass case was not Pizarro and that the head in the lead box was Pizarro’s.  [source: “Francisco Pizarro,” history.com, Oct 24, 2019]

 

Plague doctors.  The plague doctors were medical physicians who treated victims of the bubonic plague in the 14^th century.  Typically, they were not experienced physicians.  They were usually second-rate physicians or young physicians just starting their practice.  By the 17^th century, they started wearing beak masks, clad from head to toe in oiled leather, and wore goggles.  The mask had a long beak filled with drugs an d aromatic herbs, mints, camphor, cloves, straw, laudanum, rose petals, and myrrh to filter the air.  It was supposed to prevent the inhalation of disease-ridden air coming directly from the patient.  The plague doctors commonly carried a cane to examine and direct patients without the need to make direct contact with them.  Plaque doctors were freely allowed to perform autopsies to research a cure for the plague.  They practiced bloodletting.  They lanced, rubbed toads on, or leached the cores to try to remove the sickness.  The hats themselves were used to indicate that the person wearing it was a plague doctor.  [source: Black, “Plaque doctors: Separating medical myths from facts,” Live Science, May 19.2020]

 

Poe.  Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic.  He is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre.  He enlisted in the U.S. Army and later attended West Point.  He was later court-martialed as a cadet.  He married his 13-year-old cousin. He died at age 40 under mysterious circumstances,  He cause of death was variously attributed to many causes, including disease, alcoholism, substance abuse, suicide, beaten to death, carbon monoxide poisoning, heavy metal poisoning, rabies, brain tumor, flu, and murder.  [source: Geiling, “The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edga Allan Poe,” Smithsonian Magazine, Oct 7, 201]

 

Ponce de Leon.  Juan Ponce de Leon (1474-1521) founded the oldest settlement in Puerto Rico and became its first governor.  He also led the first official European expedition to Florida.  He named it after the Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers).  He accompanied Columbus’s second voyage to the New World in 1493.  He was soon made a governor in the Dominican province and was granted land and Indian slaves.  He attacked the nearby island of Puerto Rico (then called Borinquen) and took it from the natives with brutal force.  He then claimed the island for Spain.  In 1521, he landed in Florida looking for gold.  He was wounded in an Indian attack and died in Havana, Cuba from the wound he received in Florida. He had been hit in the thigh by a poisoned arrow.  His search for the Fountain of Youth is a myth.  Over 30% of the modern population of Puerto Rico is descended from Ponce de Leon.  [“Juan Ponce de Leon,” biography.com. Dec 3, 2019]

 

Printing.  Although printing using reusable and moveable blocks appeared in China as early as 1040 AD, the first effective press for printing books using moveable metal type and oil-based ink emerged in 15th-century Europe. Its invention is attributed to German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg (1398–1468). The first book printed on this new type of press was the Bible, in 1455 (Gutenberg published over 150 copies of the Bible).  Gutenberg’s printing techniques soon spread across Europe. Gutenberg was later sued by his business partners and lost the lawsuit.  He was forced to give up his printing business and was in financial ruin before his death in 1468.  By 1470, there were seven presses in Germany, and this grew to more than 50 by 1499. The first printed book in Italy was produced in 1467; presses were established in Paris by 1470, and in London (by William Caxton) in 1476. The most prestigious early printer, Aldus Manutius, set up the Aldine Press in Venice in 1495 to specialize in Greek, Latin, and early Italian classics.   By 1500, some 35,000 different books were in print. Much cheaper than handwritten works, printed books revolutionized the diffusion of knowledge. The numbers of booksellers and publishers increased, and in the late 15th century, book fairs were held in Lyons, Leipzig, and Frankfurt. As printing became more commonplace, so the types of publications widened. In 1609, the first “news books” (forerunners of newspapers) appeared in Strasbourg, and the first picture book for children was produced in Nuremberg, Germany in 1658.  [source: Adams, “Did You Know…Fascinating Printing Facts,” Printing Impressions, Feb 1, 2015]

 

Prohibition.  The sale of alcohol was banned in 1920 during Prohibition under the 18^th Amendment.  The U.S. government then started to poison the alcohol when people continued to consume alcohol despite its banning.  The government ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the U.S., where the products were regularly stolen by bootleggers.  Some 60 million gallons of industrial alcohol were stolen annually.  Smart bootleggers hired chemists to make the industrial alcohol safer and more drinkable. The government then added more deadly poisons, such as adding 10% methyl alcohol.  During the Christmas season in 1926, 24 people died and 100 got ill in New York City after drinking alcohol poisoned by the U.S. government.  At the end of 1926, 1,200 were sickened by the poisonous alcohol and 400 died in New York City alone.  By 1927, the death rate was 700 from the poisonous alcohol in New York City.  By the end of Prohibition in December 1933, the federal poisoning program killed over 10,000 people.  Prohibition did not make it illegal to drink alcohol, only to manufacture and sell it.  Many people stockpiled liquor before the ban went into effect.  The Yale Club in New York City had a 14-year supply of booze in its basement.  [source: Blum, “The Chemist’s War,” Slate, Feb 19, 2010]